Comm Games still want an African host

Commonwealth Games bosses are committed to spreading the event around the world but concede the time, place and people have to align before the Anglo-Australian domination can be broken.

When Durban was stripped of what would have been the first Games in Africa in 2022 after the South African government was unable to provide a financial guarantee, they reverted to the reliable rotation.

Birmingham 2022 will be the fifth out of six Games to be held in the UK or Australia, while Perth and Adelaide are considering bids for as soon as 2026.

Even Canada and New Zealand have not hosted a Games since Victoria in 1994.

"It was an incredibly difficult decision to withdraw the Games from Durban, to postpone their ambitions," Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) David Grevemberg said.

"But we remain committed to a Games in Africa. But it has to be at the right time, the right place under the right conditions with the right people with the right purpose.

"As soon as the time's right."

Africa's time is not yet right, Grevemberg says, noting that finding host cities for major events has become a global problem for sport and is not confined to the Commonwealth Games.

"We need the competence and capability to bring these Games to new places," he said.

He says Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and a return to India after the shambolic Delhi Games of 2010 would be viable under the CGF's new partnership model which is designed to make a Games more affordable to host.

After the Gold Coast, the CGF will take greater risk and responsibility for hosting Games and will take on the management of commercial, sponsorship and merchandise programs, as well as the broadcast and digital rights.

"We'll have host city partners, not host cities," Grevemberg says.

He hopes the new model will prevent another Durban scenario and can make the prospect of staging the Games more attractive to potential hosts.

"We need to ensure our Games are more affordable and more appealing and more efficiently and effectively run," he said.

"The level of investment, particularly from the public purse, has to show a meaningful return."